The evolution of individualistic norms.

The venerable doctrine of "individualism" comes in two tropes: descriptive and normative. Often they have been subsumed—and not infrequently confused—under the label of "methodological" individualism. This chapter is about the relationships among these ideas in light of the genetic and cultural evolutionary history of humans. It argues that we best appreciate the persuasiveness of normative individualism to most modern people by understanding why their evolutionary history has made working, everyday descriptive individualism hard to achieve and maintain. A normative individualist is someone who maintains that the justification of all values ultimately lies in the normative judgments of individual people, and in assessments about the effects of change on the welfare of individuals. This view has polemical bite against one version or another of normative collectivism, according to which groups—clans, nations, ethnic communities, classes—may have and promote valuable objectives that transcend the preferences of their individual members. In non secular traditions it has sometimes been maintained that religious communities are obligated by value considerations that might, at least in dark periods, animate none of their members. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)